Mermaid? MerMAN!
by KianajLau
Summary: A fic I began in November of 2017 and I've just recently had my creative juices flowing again, so I continued it. It's nothing serious, just a really silly reveal of Percy being a mermaid. No demigods AU. Oneshot!


It was a hot summer day and Annabeth would've much preferred to be inside rather than lounging under the hot sun on a crowded, bustling beach. It was just like the streets of New York, only with salty water that stung your eyes, sand getting places that really shouldn't have sand in them, and five-hundred too many half-naked bodies. She scanned the beach, looking for her best friend, Percy Jackson. He had told her he had a surprise for her and told her to sit still.

She squinted into the bright sunlight as she observed the number of seagulls flying over the ocean. The blinding glare of the harsh light reflected off the clear blue water and almost made her scream 'screw it' and jump back into the car, driving back to her small apartment, and ditching Percy.

Annabeth sighed, knowing she could never leave Percy. Just the thought of him looking so crestfallen when he'd come back to just see an empty beach towel crushed her. She drummed her fingers to a random beat, listening to children scream as they fell face first into the sand, got swept up in a wave, or stepped on a rock. Under the shade of an enormous umbrella Percy insisted on bringing, she smiled. It was funny how stup¡d children were. At most of their ages, she'd been sleeping with a dagger under her pillow, plotting her escape from home. She briefly wondered what Percy was like as a child. _Probably just as adorable as he is now._ Annabeth sighed again. "That Seaweed Brain sure does take his time."

"'Sup?" Her heart sped up for a moment as the voice reminded her of Percy, but she knew it wasn't. This voice was much too deep. She looked to both sides, trying to find the source of the deep voice. "Over here." She looked down to see a head buried in the sand a few feet over wearing a floppy hat and loud sunglasses. "Hey, I dug a hole and buried myself and now I can't get out."

She snorted, "You remind me of my friend, Percy."

"Is he just a friend?"

She jutted her chin out as she huffed, "Of course he is. We're not anything more and I don't like him."

"I never said you did."

She huffed again, and he smirked.

They fell into what she felt was an awkward silence but he thought was a comfortable one. Then he spoke up. "Hey, can you get me out of here?" She hesitated,= for a moment but complied, crawling over to him.

"May I take off your hat?" He shook his head lightly. "Okay, then." She realized that the sand piled on top of him was shaped to look like a mermaid's tail. She began digging at his feet but he tapped her shoulder and shook his head again. She was baffled by the peculiarity of this stranger but began digging from his shoulders. Annabeth looked at him and, when he nodded, continued her work. "So what brings you to the beach?"

The man sighed, "I have this thing to tell this person and, I don't really know how to tell her- what my thing is."

She sat back, "Why's it so hard to tell?" She really hoped Percy would get back soon.

"Eh, it's just… she's super smart, and she does all these smart people things like memorize facts and stuff, and she won't believe me."

Annabeth hummed, "Your friend sounds amazing."

The buried man laughed. "She is."

They lapsed into another silence. Annabeth turned her attention to a book she pulled out of the picnic basket while the man looked toward the ocean. She listened to the pathetic children scream again and laughed somewhat ruefully. "Children are stup¡d." She announced.

From what she could see of the man, he looked taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, like, they can't do anything. They just kind of sit around and be gross. And look-" she pointed to a small baby, crawling into the water, "that one is going to be swept- yup." Just as she predicted, the child had toddled into the water, only to be pushed back by a wave that swallowed it. When the water receded, the baby was crying and rubbing its eyes. "And it's just putting more saltwater and sand into its eyes!"

The man laughed as well, "I guess so." They smiled at each other. The man patted moved his shoulder, shifting the sand around it. "Now help me out."

Annabeth laughed, still wary, but now enjoying the presence of the man. Realizing she didn't know his name, she opened her mouth to ask for it but-

"Do you believe in mermaids?"

Annabeth blinked. "I'm sorry?"

The man chuckled nervously, "Like, half fish half people things. People with tails. Like, Ariel." Taking in Annabeth's expression, he quickly laughed, "Oh, yeah, good. Me neither. Can you- can you continue digging?"

Annabeth could only nod and hope for Percy again. Where was Percy? Maybe he was trampled by a mob of teenagers who wanted ice-cream. Did he drown? No, Percy's too excellent of a swimmer to drown. Perhaps he got eaten by a shark. Annabeth couldn't tell which was worse.

And why was the man here, with her? Why was he even at the beach? Perhaps the man suffered from some sort of mental illness. How had he been buried so close to her without her noticing? Surely his friends who had ganged up on him would've made a lot of noise with their stifled giggling. Was it possible he buried himself? She observed the male closely, trying to pick out details of his face from under the sun hat. He ducked away, clearing his throat.

"Uh, chop chop. I've got places to be. Things to see. All that… jazz." He laughed, but Annabeth was now beyond the point of trying to be polite and really just wanted him gone. Now uncovering the man at a furious pace, Annabeth was desperate. Something about him rubbed her the wrong way. Perhaps it was the way he was so friendly yet aloof at the same time. Like he had a dark secret. Maybe that was exaggerating a little bit, but he just didn't seem right. He really did remind her of Percy in some ways, and it was because of that she was so unnerved. He seemed so much like her Percy, but not like him at all. Perhaps it was the deepness of his voice. Perhaps it was the way he covered his face with that big hat of his. Perhaps it was the way he was so-

"Slippery." The man looked up at Annabeth.

"Excuse me?"

"You're slippery. Like, wet, smooth, I don't know! Slimy! No- not slimy. Like a dolphin. I guess. I don't know? Oh, gods, did you wet yourself in the sand?"

The perplexed shape of the man's mouth melted into an easy smile as he laughed heartily. "No! Unbury me, unbury me!" He chanted just like a child. A stup¡d stup¡d child. "You'll find out the secret soon enough, matey. Argh!" His childish resemblance to Percy made her shudder, but she complied with a hint of a smile gracing her lips.

Annabeth continued to unbury his legs, having steered clear between his legs the entire time, letting the man do that himself. For some reason, though, she couldn't look at his legs. She could feel the silkiness of his legs and dared to touch it- "Are you caressing my- legs?" Annabeth fought a blush and moved her hands away, dropping them. Her hands were emerged in something cool, which she realized was water. Feeling happier and more relieved than she should've she looked down, expecting to see the mans perfectly normal legs in a pool of water.

He didn't have perfectly normal legs. In fact, he didn't have legs at all. He had a tail. A flipping tail. "Oh my gods."

"Yeah," the tail moved and Annabeth fell back, not wanting to be near it at all. "At least you know I didn't pee myself."

"What- who are you?"

She saw a lopsided smile that made her heart beat faster. "I am a merman. And-" the man shook his head, "I'm Percy!"

The fact that he was there and not dead was enough to make Annabeth smile, but the triumphant smile on his face made her a million times happier. "Percy?"

"The one and only." He splashed his tail in the water. "Look! Mermaids and merman exist!"

"I never said they didn't." Annabeth couldn't keep the smile off her face as he looked her in the eye, sea-green on stormy-gray.

"Wise Girl."

"Seaweed Brain."

It was a hot day at the beach, but Annabeth preferred it over anything else.


End file.
